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A review by kmartbooks
Leech by Hiron Ennes
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
5.0
Equal parts delightful and horrific. I ate this up until it got really difficult to read and even then, I couldn't move on without finishing it but also dreaded it. That creeping, anxious dread is exactly where you want a gothic horror story to be, though.
I'll be thinking about this one for a good long while.
This will not be for everyone but dang, was it for me. Seriously, I fully understand if you don't think that this deserves five stars, but I think it deserves one million stars.
I am absolutely obsessed with this but it will not be for everyone. Anyone who likes slow, creeping horror and doesn't mind some medical jargin, disturbing and graphic body horror, and an incredibly subtle world building with mostly unlikeable characters will devour this. I listen to most audiobooks at 2x+ speeds, but this has almost always been at 1.5x at the most because I am hanging onto every word as the narrator talks directly to me. And also the narrator is a parasite. I am going to make this book my entire personality. What's more is that the narrator is a trans woman, the main character is agender, and the author is non-binary. I'm horrified and cannot look away and I'm delighted with the slowly meandering tension that is translating to deeply uncomfortable and unraveling mental states. Horror done exceptionally right.
I'm obsessed. And I never want to read it again. And I want to read it again immediately.
I hope this helps and/or makes sense to someone.
I'll be thinking about this one for a good long while.
This will not be for everyone but dang, was it for me. Seriously, I fully understand if you don't think that this deserves five stars, but I think it deserves one million stars.
I am absolutely obsessed with this but it will not be for everyone. Anyone who likes slow, creeping horror and doesn't mind some medical jargin, disturbing and graphic body horror, and an incredibly subtle world building with mostly unlikeable characters will devour this. I listen to most audiobooks at 2x+ speeds, but this has almost always been at 1.5x at the most because I am hanging onto every word as the narrator talks directly to me. And also the narrator is a parasite. I am going to make this book my entire personality. What's more is that the narrator is a trans woman, the main character is agender, and the author is non-binary. I'm horrified and cannot look away and I'm delighted with the slowly meandering tension that is translating to deeply uncomfortable and unraveling mental states. Horror done exceptionally right.
I'm obsessed. And I never want to read it again. And I want to read it again immediately.
I hope this helps and/or makes sense to someone.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror
Moderate: Child abuse